Researchers have finished the first full genome map of the threatened Mojave desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii), also known as Agassiz’s desert tortoise.
They hope their findings will inform conservation efforts, improve understanding of its evolutionary past and potentially contribute to human medicine.
Read/listen to my full story at KJZZ’s Arizona Science Desk:
Desert Tortoise Genome Reveals Genetic Keys to Surviving Harsh Conditions, Threats
As Congress eases rules for selling public lands and considers measures to weaken the Endangered Species Act, conservation efforts may rely increasingly on private facilities like the Phoenix Zoo, which supports its Arthur L. and Elaine V. Johnson Foundation Native Species Conservation Center with a portion of its gate receipts.
Read/listen to my full story at KJZZ’s Arizona Science Desk:
Phoenix Zoo Works To Save Endangered, Threatened Species
It’s said that we all have a double somewhere in the world. It’s a haunting thought, but almost comforting compared to the harrowing tales of identity theft we hear on the nightly news. But, hey, we live in the age of fingerprints, DNA and CSI, right? The post-911 world of ever-more Orwellian identification requirements? Surely we’ve left cases of mistaken identity firmly in the past.
You know where this is going …
In the real world, disasters aren’t just a matter of scale – they’re a question of preparedness and of a society’s capacity to handle the fallout. Vaccines, rapid-response teams and early-warning systems can move the needle from calamity toward recovery, while poverty, corruption and ignorance slide it toward catastrophe. So, cue announcer: “In a world … where real disasters aren’t single events that arise from simple problems that are solvable in 93 minutes …”
In honor of World Oceans Day (June 8), here’s my recent article on some of the remarkable discoveries made by marine biologists over the past few years. From clearing up the murky “lost years” of juvenile turtles to further solidifying our understanding of a jellyfish’s final fate, these delvers of the deep have shrunk what Shakespeare called “the vasty deep” to something a bit more fathomable but no less amazing. Find out more as I take a deep dive into …
